General (page 2 of 2)

Thoughts that wouldn’t really fit into the log or project info: the flowery musings and whatnot.

The Tools of the Trade

Monkey Wrench – Foo Fighters

For any major project, having the right tools available is crucial. I find myself regularly needing to shuttle tools and supplies between Oshkosh and Puckaway, so it’s also important for everything to be easily transportable. This is something I consider every time I buy a new tool. It has also led me to streamline my storage methods. Let’s take a quick tour of a typical Puckaway-bound truckload.

Craftsman C3 Cordless Tools

This is my favorite cooler that doesn't hold beer.

This is my favorite cooler that doesn’t hold beer.

I’ll proudly fly the flag for Craftsman’s C3 19.2v line of cordless tools. There’s a wide variety available and you can run either Ni-Cad or Lithium-Ion batteries in all of them. It’s easy to buy into, you can upgrade as you go, and the tools hold up well. I’ve had my current set for over five years. I’ve built two decks and a playset, finished a basement and two-car garage, remodeled a kitchen, and worked countless other small projects without a single problem. They’re a great value for the price and much better than previous Craftsman cordless sets.

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The Year In Review: 2015

I Need Never Get Old – Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

This was a big year for Puckaway. Let’s take a look back at it!

On April 15, I finally accepted my responsibility for keeping the logs. But rather than taking pen to paper, I took fingers to keyboard and started a WordPress site. Accounts of the days’ activities are now accompanied by photos and videos, projects can be tracked from start to finish, and even the old notebooks are getting digitized and transcribed. I now have a platform to share my favorite little corner of the globe with the rest of the world.

Spring was greeted with the usual cleaning efforts and the start of some of the most ambitious projects I’ve undertaken. Farmer Joe provided a truckful of fertilized dirt to help rehabilitate the yard and we tamed the area around the brick pile. I jacked up and levelled out the keep in preparation for Sean’s 2014 suggestion, a new deck. With a little help from Jake, I was able to frame out the platform, lay the boards, and install the stairs in just two short trips. While this construction was underway, the keep got a much-needed new recliner, the pole barn got some new all-weather outdoor speakers, and I built a full/twin trundle bed for the keep’s bedroom. No more air mattresses.

Red and I got things ready for summer by installing the A/C into the wall of the keep, giving us our kitchen window back. We also tore out the stove, which Red hauled away for scrap along with his extensive collection of aluminum cans. More spring cleaning was done around the yard as I cut trees and cleared out the LP tanks and scrap from the end of the driveway. The place was looking better than ever.

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The View from Above

Eye in the Sky – The Alan Parsons Project

Thanks to satellite/aerial imagery, it’s easier than ever to see how things are progressing at Puckaway. I’ve collected a few different pictures and found an image slider plugin to use for them. It’s pretty cool.

Bing Maps vs Google Maps

The two heavy hitters in free online aerial photography really show how much the land changes throughout the course of the year. I couldn’t find exact dates, but I think the Bing image is from the summer of 2013 or 2014 and the Google one is from fall of 2014. The marsh ATV trail is well-established now, as both pictures show, and with the Google image you can see the yard pretty clearly.

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The Mission Statement

Leader of The Band – Dan Fogelberg

I was watching some of my grandpa’s old camcorder footage the other day (which I will eventually upload). He was taking panning shots of the big trailer and talking about his plans to build additions onto it. It hurts a little to listen to that now. Richie always had plans like that. This is why Puckaway has an abundance of bricks, lumber, plywood, corrugated metal sheets, piping, small engines, lawnmowers, appliances, and everything else that makes up the clutter we’re now focused on clearing out. My grandpa grew up during the Great Depression and spent the rest of his life never taking anything for granted. Throughout his career with the City of Milwaukee Sanitation Department, he was in a prime position to snatch up all sorts of leftover building materials that otherwise would have been scrapped. Later, when his son-in-law, Andy, owned and operated Custom Craft Vehicles, Richie had another opportunity to grab cast aside treasures. He was always on the lookout for deals and never passed up an opportunity to take on a new project.

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Plenty good came from his drive over the years. Grandpa built all sorts of things from the nice hardwood pieces he got from CCV. Some of the bricks he salvaged found a place in landscaping at Puckaway, his home, my aunt’s house, and my parents’ house. Worn-out railroad ties became garden boundaries. Richie had a knack for repairing small engines and I don’t think he ever had to buy a new (or even running) lawnmower, riding or push, in his life. He had plans for everything he salvaged, he had the know-how to see those plans through, and most of what he salvaged in his lifetime ended up at Puckaway.

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The Magic of Suction

Shop Vac – Jonathan Coulton

Puckaway tends to attract some uninvited guests. Particularly mice. Particularly mice that get in my trailer. Particularly mice that get in my trailer and wreck all my clothes and blankets. We’ve made some strides in keeping them at bay, though. This is mostly thanks to the miracle of expanding foam sealant and me blasting it into every crack and possible point of entry I can find. And then there’s vacuum bags.

They’re mostly known for turning this:

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The Archive Studio

Reeling in the Years – Steely Dan

Here it is, folks: our first Project and first Archive post. I’ve started the process of digitizing the logs. I didn’t think scanning would work all that well given the varied sizes of the source media and the maddeningly slow pace of most flatbed scanners. So I got a little creative and put together a capture studio.

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I didn’t want to spend a lot of money or take up a lot of space, so I kept it simple. I’ve got a Canon PowerShot S110 that takes very nice photos but doesn’t have much in the way of advanced features. Unless you mess with it a little, that is. With the help of some clever software called CHDK and a little surgery on a spare USB cable, I crafted a remote shutter button.

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The Lay of the Land

Couldn’t Get It Right – Climax Blues Band

Well, the last post got a little emotional. Let’s level out and talk about this site and how it works.

I have a terrible habit when it comes to creative endeavors, especially digital ones: I rarely end up with a final product. It’s typical perfectionism. I don’t want something out there in the world unless I know it’s as good as I can make it. But historically, this has only led to me not having much out there in the world at all. I’m going to make strides to change that with this site. I’ll put content first and worry about organization and polish later. This is new for me.

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The Puckaway Log

I’m Your Captain – Grand Funk Railroad

My grandpa kept a log of every visit to Puckaway. And “log” is definitely the right word. These were not verbose journal entries or opinion pieces. He took down the events of the day. The work he had done, what the weather was like, who stopped by–stuff like that. I’m not sure how much they would interest anyone else, but they help me bind my memories of him to this place.

Richie wasn’t the only one who kept the log. If Inee (grandma) came up with him, she’d usually take up the pen. There are entries from their friend Jeannie, my mom, my aunt Linda–it served as a guestbook of sorts where visitors could briefly transcribe their experience. There are even occasional mini-entries and margin notes from a young me. After grandpa died, my dad took over writing duties during deer camp. But while I came up as often as I was able, I would never write.

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